Skid steer attachment

ABSTRACT

A skid steer attachment has an extended reach for lifting and placing heavy boulders, logs and debris in hard to reach locations. With its extended reach capabilities, the attachment makes it possible to grab and place items in locations that are hard to reach with conventional attachments.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. provisionalpatent application No. 61/482,558, filed May 4, 2011, the contents ofwhich are herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a skid steer attachment and, moreparticularly, to a skid steer attachment used for landscaping, forexample, for moving boulders, logs, brush and other debris.

Grapples are often used for moving boulders, logs, brush and otherdebris. However, such grapples have limited reach, limiting theirusefulness, especially when trying to place items in a desired locationwhere the equipment may not be able to get close. In these cases, thegrapples often have to release the item in a location away from thedesired location, and a different means has to be used to move the itemas desired.

As can be seen, there is a need for an improved grapple attachment for askid steer allowing a user to lift and place items in hard to reachlocations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the present invention, a skid steer attachmentcomprises a backing plate for attaching the attachment to a skid steer;an arm extending up from the backing plate and turning at an angle; agrapple pivotally attached at a distal end of the arm; digger teethpivotally attached opposite of the grapple at the distal end of the arm;and a hydraulic ram connected between the arm and the grapple, thehydraulic ram adapted to pivot the grapple.

In another aspect of the present invention, a skid steer attachmentcomprises a backing plate for attaching the attachment to a skid steer;an arm extending up from the backing plate and turning at an angle; agrapple pivotally attached at a distal end of the arm; digger teethpivotally attached opposite of the grapple at the distal end of the arm;a hydraulic ram connected between the arm and the grapple, the hydraulicram adapted to pivot the grapple; an adjustment arm extending from thedigger teeth to a selected set of a plurality of sets of holes in thearm; and a pin passing through the adjustment arm and the selected setof the plurality of sets of holes.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdrawings, description and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a right side perspective view of the skid steer attachmentaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a left side perspective view of the skid steer attachment ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a left side view of an arm of the skid steer attachment ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a close-up perspective view of a grapple end of the skid steerattachment of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplatedmodes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. Thedescription is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merelyfor the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention,since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a skid steerattachment having an extended reach for lifting and placing heavyboulders, logs and debris in hard to reach locations. With its extendedreach capabilities, the attachment makes it possible to grab and placeitems in locations that are hard to reach with conventional attachments.

Referring now to the Figures, a skid steer attachment 10 includes agrapple system 12 with a grapple 14 and digging teeth 16. A hydraulicram 18 can be used to extend the grapple 14 out to grapple what is meantto be picked up or to pull it up out of the way to use the digger teeth16 without any conflict of the grapple 14 being in the way.

The adjustable digger teeth 16 have a plurality of settings, typicallyabout four settings, to adjust them to pick up larger objects or to movethem completely out of the way, making it possible to use the grapple 14as a rake. The grapple 14 may pivot about an axis 20, as controlled bythe hydraulic ram 18. The digger teeth 16 may pivot about an axis 22 ascontrolled by an adjustment arm 24. The adjustment arm 24 may extendfrom the digger teeth 16 to one of a plurality of adjustment positionsdisposed along an arm 26 of the attachment 10. The adjustment positionsmay include a plurality of holes 28 where a pin 30 may pass through theadjustment arm 24 and a select set of holes 28, as shown in FIG. 4. Bypositioning the adjustment arm 24 in different holes 28, the angle ofthe digger teeth 16 relative to the arm 26 can be changed.

The grapple 14 and the digger teeth 16 include a quick pin design,making them easy to remove and reattach. Both the grapple 14 and thedigger teeth 16 can be made of T-1, TR-200, or TR-400 steel to minimizewear on them and extend their life.

An extended arm 26 can extend out off a backing plate 32 and can bebraced with steel plating for increased strength. The extended arm 26comes off the backing plate 32, rising to a 45 degree angle, making itpossible to get the desired reach. The arm 26 extends up to a 90 degreeangle, which then angles it back to the ground. The grapple 14 and thedigger teeth 16 are disposed at the end of the arm 26, along with thehydraulic ram 18, typically positioned at the top of the arm. Hydraulichoses 34 coming from the ram 18, running along the extended arm 26 canhave several brackets to hold them in close to minimize any possibledamage being done to them.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the adjustment arm 24 maybe replaced with a hydraulic ram, where the position of the digger teeth16 may be adjusted by controlling the hydraulic ram.

The length of the arm 26 can be varied depending on the application. Forexample, a longer arm 26 may be used to help move items in farther awayhard to reach places. The size of the grapple 14 and the digger teeth 16may also be changed to match the intended application of the attachment10.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates toexemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the following claims.

1. A skid steer attachment comprising: a backing plate for attaching theattachment to a skid steer; an arm extending up from the backing plateand turning at an angle; a grapple pivotally attached at a distal end ofthe arm; digger teeth pivotally attached opposite of the grapple at thedistal end of the arm; and a hydraulic ram connected between the arm andthe grapple, the hydraulic ram adapted to pivot the grapple.
 2. The skidsteer attachment of claim 1, further comprising an adjustment armextending from the digger teeth to the arm.
 3. The skid steer attachmentof claim 2, further comprising a plurality of attachment positionsdisposed along the arm to connect the adjustment arm, the plurality ofadjustment positions permitting the digger teeth to be pivoted atvarious angles relative to the arm.
 4. The skid steer attachment ofclaim 3, further comprising a plurality of holes in the arm and a pinadapted to fit through the adjustment arm and into a selected hole. 5.The skid steer attachment of claim 1, further comprising brackets forretaining hydraulic hoses adjacent to the arm.
 6. The skid steerattachment of claim 1, wherein the angle is about 90 degrees.
 7. Theskid steer attachment of claim 1, wherein the arm extends from thebacking plate at a backing plate angle of about 45 degrees.
 8. A skidsteer attachment comprising: a backing plate for attaching theattachment to a skid steer; an arm extending up from the backing plateand turning at an angle; a grapple pivotally attached at a distal end ofthe arm; digger teeth pivotally attached opposite of the grapple at thedistal end of the arm; a hydraulic ram connected between the arm and thegrapple, the hydraulic ram adapted to pivot the grapple; an adjustmentarm extending from the digger teeth to a selected set of a plurality ofsets of holes in the arm; and a pin passing through the adjustment armand the selected set of the plurality of sets of holes.
 9. The skidsteer attachment of claim 8, further comprising brackets for retaininghydraulic hoses adjacent to the arm.
 10. The skid steer attachment ofclaim 8, wherein the arm extends from the backing plate at an angle ofabout 45 degrees and the angle that the arm turns is about 90 degrees.